


Memories

by Ninja_Librarian



Series: Shidge Week 2016 [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Day 2: Katie Holt, F/M, Pre-Relationship, Shidge Week 2016, Shidge Week: Katie Holt, Takes place mostly in Ep 1 but ends about mid-season, itty-bitty bit of pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-20
Updated: 2016-09-20
Packaged: 2018-08-16 08:46:22
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,987
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8095642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ninja_Librarian/pseuds/Ninja_Librarian
Summary: “Have we met before?” He asked the boy.The boy blinked, the hardness in his eyes disappearing instantly. Replaced by… Not fear, but something similar.“No.” The boy said. “No, we haven’t.”-----Shiro tries to figure out why this boy named Pidge brings back so many memories of Matt. Until the answer brings back memories of a girl named Katie...





	

When he first came-to on the moth-eaten couch in the shack in the middle of nowhere is when he first saw the four teenagers that were hovering nearby. He recognized the dark haired boy seated beside him, the name ‘Keith’ coming to mind after hearing the boy speak. The other three kind of lingered behind. The two taller boys stared at him with wide-eyes, one with concern and the other with not-well-concealed awe.

But it was the smallest boy that his eyes zeroed in on.

The face. The hair color and style. The big brown eyes behind huge round glasses. It was familiar in the haze of the drugs and all the hell that he had been through.

And through the fog came one thought, one name.

Matt.

Matthew James Holt.

His best friend. His roommate. His crewmember. His comrade.

Matt. Who was…

He wasn’t sure where Matt was. He didn’t know. He wanted to know. He knew they had been separated at some point, obviously, but it was the particulars he was struggling with. He just knew he had to find both Matt and Commander Holt.

And for a brief moment, he thought he had found Matt.

But… The longer he stared at the boy, the longer the boy stared back, he realized it wasn’t Matt.

The brown eyes that met his were hard and sharp, his stare almost a glare with the intensity. The round glasses he wore only made his eyes look bigger. The boy was also smaller in stature to Matt. His limbs thinner, though the boy hid under over-sized clothes.

Not Matt, he told himself.

But still…

“Have we met before?” He asked the boy.

The boy blinked, the hardness in his eyes disappearing instantly. Replaced by… Not fear, but something similar.

“No.” The boy said. “No, we haven’t.”

He chose to believe the boy, who later introduced himself as Pidge.

But still, Shiro struggled in separating Pidge from Matt in his mind. Not just because of their physical similarities. It was all the memories of Matt that Pidge invoked.

It was the way Pidge got excited about a project. Shiro tried desperately to keep up with the conversation between Pidge and Hunk as they sat on the floor of Keith’s shack, piecing together and programing their ‘Voltron Detector’. Just as he had spent many hours doing a lot of nodding and smiling as Matt rambled on about his latest project and speaking in technobabble.

It was the way Pidge asked a lot of questions. About Kerberos and the mission and the two missing crew members. Shiro is not surprised when Allura says that inquisitiveness is a trait necessary for piloting the Green Lion. He remembered Matt telling Shiro that his father always said that the more questions you asked, the more answers you had. Shiro was sure that Matt had a quota of questions he tried to ask in a single day. He was also sure that Pidge had asked twice that amount in just the few hours Shiro had known him.

It wasn’t in the way Pidge rambled when he was nervous as they went to get the Green Lion. Worrying that the Lion would reject him, worrying that he wouldn’t be a good pilot, worrying that he couldn’t reach the pedals, quickly followed by an exclamation of “WHAT IF THERE ARE NO PEDALS!?!!?” It made Shiro laugh. Of all the things to worry about, the thought of there not being pedals inside the Green Lion was what Pidge chose to worry about the most. Not the alien warlord they had to fight. Not the daunting thought of the rapidly approaching warship. Not even that they might not find the Red Lion in time to form Voltron. 

No, this reminded him of Commander Holt, and of himself. Of the nerves Shiro felt in the weeks leading up to the Kerberos mission, how he had felt so much shame in confessing to the Commander that he was scared, worried that he wasn’t the best pilot for the job. That he was going to mess up somehow.

He remembered Samuel Holt’s smile as he put both of his hands on Shiro’s shoulders, looking him in the eye in a way that wasn’t a commanding officer to his subordinate. It was like a father, a friend. It had made him feel warm and safe as Commander Holt said,

“If you’re always worrying about what could go wrong, you could miss out on a chance to do something great.”

He told this to Pidge, watching as the smaller boy’s shoulders relaxed.

“Go.” Shiro had told Pidge. “Be great.”

As he watched Pidge run up the stairs, climb up the mass of roots and vines, he leaned against a pillar.

And he told himself to take his own advice. To remember the words of Commander Holt.

But he didn’t understand just how powerful his words—and those of Commander Holt—were to Pidge until later that day.

“No!” Pidge had exclaimed, voice fierce and eyes hard as Shiro turned to face him again.

“Commander Holt is my father.” Pidge said, voice firm as he stared Shiro down. “He and my brother were the ones on the Kerberos mission with you.”

And that was when things began to make sense.

When different memories started to flood back to him.

Not of a lanky boy with short, wild hair and huge glasses. But of a small girl with her hair to her waist and a bright, carefree smile.

And with that girl came a different name.

Katie.

Katelyn Anne Holt.

Katie. The girl in the photo on Matt’s bedside table in their shared room, the photo in the frame getting an update at the beginning of every year.

Katie. Matt’s precious baby sister, though only four years separated their ages.

Katie. The girl whom he quickly learned was not to be trifled with. Cute as a button, yes, but he learned just how fierce she was after a lightsaber duel in the Holt’s backyard. How Matt had insisted that two-on-one against his little sister was, indeed, fair and how Shiro had tried to go easy on the younger girl, quickly learning that was a mistake as she took it as a sign of weakness, eyes gleaming. If the lightsabers had been anything but plastic, he would have needed a prosthetic replacement limb years before the Galra got ahold of him.

Katie, who would send them back to the Garrison with tins of cookies. Who blushed when her mother told Shiro that Katie had put specific treats on the grocery list prior to a weekend visit, just because "they’re Shiro’s favorites”. Who couldn’t believe he didn’t like peanut butter—and, worse, preferred whole peanuts—and agreed with her brother when he commented that it was Shiro’s “one and only flaw”. 

Katie. Who always accompanied her father to the Garrison whenever she was able to, looking around in both awe and determination. Who couldn’t wait to start her own education at the Garrison.

Katie who was always so happy to see her brother, who was always happy to show off her latest invention and grades.

Katie with her bright smile and sparkling eyes and the long hair she was so proud of and loved so much and how happy she was to learn she had grown taller by even the smallest margin.

Katie, whom he had danced with only a week before he left for Kerberos. As he twirled her and she laughed, he marveled at her. How simultaneously grown-up and young she was.

He had wondered what she would look like when he got back to Earth. Just how much prettier she could get in his absence.

And he had wondered if she would have a boyfriend. He knew anyone would be lucky to have her, to be even within her presence. But he was really starting to hope he came home to find that little Katie Holt had her first boyfriend whom he could help Matt intimidate.

Anything to keep himself from further crushing on his best friend’s little sister, his commander’s precious and precocious daughter.

That had been well over a year ago. She was still quite young, but there was also a hardness, a bitterness that had replaced most of her youth. She had grown-up too fast, matured before her time. Whether that maturity had been forced by herself or the world around her, he wasn’t sure. She was still a child. They all were, he knew, but that hadn’t truly hit him until that moment. Hadn’t really hit him what they had—what he had—gotten into.

And in her eyes, he saw that what was truly behind what made them hard.

Determination. Loyalty. Love.

Pidge Gunderson was not to be trifled with. Neither was Katie Holt.

He was really glad he remembered that.

He kept her secret, but decided to let her know that he knew. It was nice, after that, because they spent the rest of the evening telling stories about her father and Matt. Most of the stories about Commander Holt were nice and inspirational.

The stories they shared about their favorite excited-by-ice-samples nerd left them both in stitches.

After she told the team her true sex, he came up to her that night, as she sat in the observatory, watching the stars and planets pass by from both the windows and the holographic projectors.

“So… You’re still Pidge?” He asked, sitting beside her. 

She turned to him, looking a bit confused.

“You told the others that you were a girl, but you never told them what your real name was. So you still want us to call you Pidge? Or do you want to be called Katie again?” He asked.

She hesitated, watching the stars as the thought, then said,

“No. I… I don’t want to be Katie again. Not until I find my family. I became Pidge to find them. So I’m going to stay Pidge until I do.

“Besides,” She turned to him with a huge grin. “It may totally blow apart Lance’s brain to learn that the name I was given at birth is not, in fact, Pidge.”

Shiro chuckled.

“Yeah, it might.” He said, turning to look at the stars. He felt her small hand be laid overtop his much-larger one and he turned to look at her again, her smile now a bit shy, cheeks a bit red.

“But, Shiro… You’re the exception.” She whispered. “You can call me Katie. If you want. ‘Cause, as much as I was looking for Dad and Matt, I was hoping to find you, too. And, well, I can’t say I found you, you kind of literally crashed into the Garrison’s backyard, but… You’re back in my life. And I’m glad that you are. But I can’t wait until the day comes that I have you, and Matt and Dad all in the same room again so I can have my arms around all three of you. But until then… Yeah, Pidge, but…”

“Katie.”

She paused and looked up, her cheeks completely red now as Shiro smiled at her.

“Thank you.” He said, squeezing her hand. “I’m glad that you’re back in my life, too.”

She smiled and threw her arms around him in a hug. He smiled and ran a hand through her now-short hair.

And as they sat there, Shiro made a silence promise to protect her.

It wasn’t for her sake; he had seen that she could take care of herself, had just days before rescued him from Sendak and took back the Castle in the process. It wasn’t even for his sake, and the ease of mind knowing that she was safe.

It was so that she could find Matt and Commander Holt.

So that she could become Katie again.

But, for now, he was simply very glad to be a part of Pidge’s life.


End file.
